Sketches in the Daily Telegraph 6 October 1888

[Chris Scott]

I have seen many references in press articles to two sketches of the alleged murderer published by the Daily Telegraph on 6 October 1888
The accompanying text is in the Press Reports section under that date with the headline

SKETCH PORTRAITS OF THE SUPPOSED MURDERER.
[Two sketches]

An example of the reference to these sketches by other papers is from The Scotsman of the same date:
Today's Daily Telegraph furnishes its readers with sketches which, it says, are presented, not as authentic portraits, but as a likeness which an important witness has identified as that of a man who was seen talking to the murdered woman in Berner Street and its vicinity until within a quarter of an hour of the time when she was killed last Sunday morning.

Does any one have a copy of these sketches as I don't remember seeing them?
Many thanks
Chris

[Mike Covell]

Chris, I recall similar articles in the Hull Press but never any pictures!

The only sketches from the Hull Newspapers which were Ripper related were the images of Deeming upon his arrest and trial, and the pictures of Sadler awaiting his trail.

[Chris]

Does any one have a copy of these sketches as I don't remember seeing them?

They're in Evans and Skinner, The Ultimate JTR Sourcebook (in the second set of plates).

[Chris Scott]

Hi Chri
Many thanks indeed for that
Here they are below
Chris S

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Apparently the sketches were shown to Packer and he picked the man on the left as looking like the man he saw with Stride on the night of her murder.

Wolf.

[Chris Scott]

many thanks, Wolf
Here is the full Scotsman article

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
Today's Daily Telegraph furnishes its readers with sketches which, it says, are presented, not as authentic portraits, but as a likeness which an important witness has identified as that of a man who was seen talking to the murdered woman in Berner Street and its vicinity until within a quarter of an hour of the time when she was killed last Sunday morning. Three men, William Marshall, James Brown, both labourers, and Police constable Smith have already stated before the Coroner that a man and woman did stand in Fairclough Street, at the corner of Berner Street, for some time - that is, from a quarter to twelve o'clock, as stated by Marshall, to a quarter before one a.m., the hour mentioned by Brown. The policeman appears to have seen the same pair in Berner Street at half past twelve. The evidence of another witness has yet to be taken, and this man seems to have a better opportunity of observing the appearance of the stranger than any other individual, for it was at his shop that the grapes which other witnesses saw near the body were bought. This witness, Matthew Packer, has furnished information to the Scotland Yard authorities, and it was considered so important that he was examined in the presence of Sir Charles Warren himself. He has also identified the body of Elizabeth Stride as that of the woman who accompanied the man who came to his shop not long before midnight on Saturday. In accordance with the general description furnished to the police by Packer and other, a number of sketches were prepared portraying men of different nationalities, ages, and ranks of life. These were submitted to Packer, who unhesitatingly selected one of those reproduced by the Telegraph - the portrait of the man without the moustache, and wearing the soft felt or American hat. Further, in order to remove all doubt, and if possible to obtain a still better visible guidance, Packer was shown a considerable collection of photographs, and from these, after careful inspection, he picked out one which corresponded in all important respects to the sketch. It was noticed that Packer, as also another important witness presently to be mentioned, at once rejected the faces of men of purely sensuous type, and that they thus threw aside the portraits of several noted American criminals. Both witnesses inclined to the belief that the man's age was not more than thirty, in which estimate they were supported by the police constable, who guessed him to tbe twenty eight. If the impressions of two men who, it may be supposed, have actually conversed with the alleged murderer be correct, and their recollection of his features can be relied upon, then, in their opinion, at all events, the Telegraph says, its sketches furnish a reasonably accurate representation of his general appearance as described and adopted by them. A man without a moustache and wearing a soft black felt deerstalker hat, as drawn on the Telegraph sketch, was seen by Matthew Packer, of 44 Berner Street, two doors from the scene of the murder, late on Saturday night. He describes the incident which brought the man to his notice as follows:- On Saturday night, about half past eleven o'clock, this man and the woman he has identified as the deceased came to the fruiterer's shop which he keeps. It was not necessary for them to enter it, as customers usually stand upon the pavemebnt and make their purchases through the window, which is not a shop front of the ordinary kind. Packer is certain that the woman, who wore a dark jacket and a bonnet with some crepe stuff in it, was playing with a white flower which she carried. The man was square built, about 5 feet 5 inches in height, thirty years of age, full in the face, dark complexioned, without moustache, and alert looking. His hair was black. He wore a long black coat and soft felt hat. It seemed to Packer that he was a clerk, and not a working man. He spoke in a quick, sharp manner, and stood in front of the window. The man purchased half a pound of black grapes, which were given to him in a paper bag, and he paid threepence in copper. The couple then stood near the gateway of the Club for a minute or so, and afterwards crossed the road and remained talking by the Board School for some time. They were still there when Packer had had supper and when he went to bed, and Mrs Packer remarked it as strange that they should remain, for rain was falling at the time. It is a remarkable circumstance - much more than an ordinary coincidence - that the description of the supposed murderer given by Packer was yesterday confirmed by another man who, without being aware of the fact, also chose from the sketches the one which had been already selected as Packer. Search for an individual answering to the description above detailed, but having a small moustache, and wearing a black deerstalker felt hat, instead of a soft one, has been made by the police in Whitechapel ever since Saturday, September 1, the day following the Bucks Row tragedy.
Information was tendered at the King David's Lane police station at about that time by a dairyman, who has a place of business in Little Turner Street, Commercial Road. It will be recollected that on Saturday, September 1, a desperate assault was reported to have been committed near the Music Hall in Cambridge Heath Road, a man having seized a woman by the throat and dragged her down a court, where he was joined by a gang, one of whom laid a knife across the woman's throat, remarking, "We will serve you as we did the others." The particulars of this affair were subsequently stated to be untrue; but the milkman has reason to suppose that the outrage was actually perpetrated, and he suspects that the murderer of Mary Ann Nicholls in Bucks Row had something to do with it. At any rate, upon that Saturday night, at five minutes to twelve o'clock, a man corresponding with the description given by Packer of the individual who purchased the grapes in Berner Street called at the shop, which is on the left of a covered yard usually occupied by barrows, which are let out for hire. He was in a hurry, and he asked for a penny worth of milk, with which he was served, and he drank it down at a gulp. Asking permission to go into the yard or shed, he went therem but the dairyman caught a glimpse of something white, and having suspicions, he rejoined the man in the shed, and was surprised to observe that he had covered up his trousers with a pair of white overalls, such as engineers wear. The man had a staring look, and appeared greatly agitated. He made a movement forward, and the brim of his hard felt hat struck the dairyman, who is therefore sure of the kind that he was wearing. In a hurried manner the stranger took out of a black shiny bag, which was on the ground, a white jacket, and rapidly put it on, completely hiding his cut away black coat, remarking meanwhile, "It's a dreadful murder, isn't it," although the subject had not been previously mentioned. Without making a pause the suspicious person caught up his bag, which was still open, and rushed into the street towards Shadwell, saying, "I think I've got a clue!" The matter was reported to the police, and, although strict watch has been maintained for the reappearance of the man, he has not been seen in the street since. He is said to have had a dark complexion, such as a seafaring man acquires.
In connection with the Whitechapel murders a black bag has been repeatedly mentioned. Mrs Mortimer said:- "The only man I had seen pass through Berner Street previously was a young man who carried a black shiny bag. He walked very fast down the street from the Commercial Road. He looked up at the club, and then went round the corner by the Board School. This was on the morning of the murder in Berner Street. Albert Bachert, of 13 Newnham Street, Whitechapel, has also made a statement bearing on this, which has been previously published. There is (proceeds the Telegraph) one striking point in Bachert's narration. His interrogator appears to have asked him particularly about the age of the woman. Hitherto it has been singular that none of the victims were young woman, all of them having been over 40 years of age. With respect to the age of their assailant the witnesses differ, but the police, in connection with the Berner Street tragedy, circulate the following description of a man:-
"Wanted, as having been seen in the company of the deceased dusring the Saturday evening, age 28, slight; height, 5 feet 8 inches; complexion dark, no whiskers; black diagonal coat, hard felt hat, collar and tie; carried newpaper parcel; respectable appearance."
The age, 28, herein named is favoured by two witnesses, while Bachert thinks he was a littler older; and assuming that the same man was also seen by Mrs Long, who gave evidence at the Hanbury Street inquest, he must have been forty. In the interval he may have taken pains to alter his personal appearance by shaving, so as to elude detection. Mrs Long is the person who saw Annie Chapman in Hanbury Street shortly before her death, and at that time, 5.30 a.m. on September 8, she was talking to a dark man, who was wearing a "brown low crowned felt hat, and who had the appearance of a shabby genteel foreigner." A thoroughly practical suggestion has been made for the Scotland Yard authorities to adopt. In their possession at Whitehall they have some thousands of photographs of criminals, with full particulars concerning their convictions. These are kept bound in registers, which can be consulted easily. If the witnesses who are believed to have seen the Whitechapel murderer were permitted to examine these records, one or other of them might possibly find a face which would serve to identify the subject; and, if not, the fact might be presumptively established that the detectives need not look for the man in the ranks of recognised criminals.

[mpriestnall]

Except from the Scotman article above, which Chris asserts is dated 6th October 1888: Please note the text emboldened my myself:

Quote
THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
Today's Daily Telegraph furnishes its readers with sketches which, it says, are presented, not as authentic portraits, but as a likeness which an important witness has identified as that of a man who was seen talking to the murdered woman in Berner Street and its vicinity until within a quarter of an hour of the time when she was killed last Sunday morning. Three men, William Marshall, James Brown, both labourers, and Police constable Smith have already stated before the Coroner that a man and woman did stand in Fairclough Street, at the corner of Berner Street, for some time - that is, from a quarter to twelve o'clock, as stated by Marshall, to a quarter before one a.m., the hour mentioned by Brown. The policeman appears to have seen the same pair in Berner Street at half past twelve. The evidence of another witness has yet to be taken, and this man seems to have a better opportunity of observing the appearance of the stranger than any other individual, for it was at his shop that the grapes which other witnesses saw near the body were bought.
Unquote

"The evidence of another witness has yet to be taken," and it's the 6th of October?

[Wickerman]

Martyn.
Happy New Year.

Packer's statement was first published in the Evening News, 4th Oct., on the same day Sgt. White took Packer's statement for police. Both are published by Evans & Skinner. The Scotsman being a Scottish paper is likely publishing a day or two late.

[mpriestnall]

Martyn.
Happy New Year.

Packer's statement was first published in the Evening News, 4th Oct., on the same day Sgt. White took Packer's statement for police. Both are published by Evans & Skinner. The Scotsman being a Scottish paper is likely publishing a day or two late.

Wicks,
Happy New Year to you too.

Thanks for that, makes sense to me.